In the space of 72 hours, Alisson had gone from facing Lionel Messi at a sultry Maracana to fending off Erling Haaland at Ice Station Etihad. It was an adaptation to test any goalkeeper, and yet nobody had expected the Brazilian to deliver quite such a smorgasbord of slip-ups. In one hapless first-half spell, he contrived to pass straight to Phil Foden, before dawdling on the ball so long that Haaland almost wrested it away. By the time the Norwegian punished his inept clearance for a 50th Premi
On pure aesthetics, Liverpool and Manchester City have forged a rivalry to send purists weak at the knees. The 2-2 draw they produced 19 months ago was widely feted as a high-water mark in English football, with Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola, fresh from a final-whistle embrace, ladling honeyed tributes on each other in their post-match press conferences. But the less palatable truth is that away from the blossoming managerial bromance, and the friendships on the pitch, these are two clubs bound